IBM has recently unveiled the IBM Watson Engagement Advisor, “a technology breakthrough that allows brands to crunch big data in record time to transform the way they engage clients in key functions such as customer service, marketing and sales.” Brands such as the Royal Bank of Canada and market research organizations such as Nielsen, are taking notice.

According to IBM:

The IBM Watson Engagement Advisor is a first of a kind system designed to help customer-facing personnel assist consumers with deeper insights more quickly than previously possible. Delivered through cloud-delivered services and online chat sessions, IBM Watson will empower a brand’s customer service agents to provide fast, data-driven answers, or sit directly in the hands of consumers via mobile device. In one simple click, the solution’s “Ask Watson” feature will quickly help address customers’ questions, offer feedback to guide their purchase decisions, and troubleshoot their problems.

Watch out Apple, Google and Microsoft; the IBM Watson Engagement Advisor is now infringing on your territory for voice recognition and artificial intelligence technology. Who will beat the Turing Test first?

For me, the great opportunity is not only in augmenting the customer experience, but also analyzing it, revealing frustrations, pain points and also opportunities to improve the experience as customers interact with the digital interface. Further, organizing data and allowing users to access it conveniently and learn quickly is immensely important.

According to IBM:

“Around the globe and across platforms, Nielsen provides insights into what consumers watch and buy—helping marketers engage with their customers in the smartest possible way,” said Randall Beard, Global Head, Advertiser Solutions for Nielsen. “Our work with IBM’s Watson is the latest from the Nielsen Innovation Lab, founded to advance research in advertising effectiveness. Watson’s unique capacity to uncover insights from Big Data by simply posing a question in natural language is incredibly powerful. Using Watson, we will explore the ways we can help agencies and their client brands more effectively engage with consumers across devices and improve the impact of their advertising and media plans.”

The race has begun. Who will develop a world-class solution to not only organize big data sets and make information intuitively accessible, but also provide an interface that can pass the Turing test? Only then will a victor be crowned.